Keep on cookin’: All Clad donates cookware to Canonsburg-Houston Meals on Wheels
Cooking dinner for Canonsburg-Houston Meals on Wheels clients just got a whole lot easier, thanks to All Clad Metalcrafters, which donated cookware to the nonprofit organization.
Meals on Wheels cooks and delivers dinners five days a week, year-round – including on Thanksgiving Day – to as many as 90 homebound seniors.
Each meal is freshly prepared in the kitchen of First United Presbyterian Church, Houston, by teams from Washington County church congregations and other volunteers.
But, noted Jan Patch Taylor, a longtime Meals on Wheels volunteer and coordinator, the kitchen’s pots, pans and cooking sheets had seen better days, and the new cookware is a welcome – and necessary – addition.
“People were bringing in their own skillets to cook with,” said Taylor. “And the older pans are very heavy, and once you fill them because you’re cooking for so many people, they’re hard to lift. We had a list of cookware we needed, and All Clad generously gave it all.”
The pots, pans and skillets were delivered Tuesday.
“We recognize the importance of helping bond loved ones through food, and are proud to advance that mission across our local community through this donation to Meals on Wheels,” said Wendy Dyer, International Product Director at All-Clad, noting the company’s beginnings 50 years ago in Canonsburg.
Meals on Wheels volunteer and coordinator Libby Young was at the church to accept the cookware.
She led All-Clad’s Jackie Davis, marketing and operations analyst, and Grant Cooper, human resources manager, into the kitchen and waved her hand toward the dented, scratched and bent cookware.
“We were working with mismatched stuff. Some of the pots have lids, some of them don’t have lids. They’re big and awkward and heavy,” she said. “You get some of the little, old ladies in here working, and it’s hard for them to pick up a pot, let alone reach down into it when they’re packing containers.”
Meals on Wheels volunteers arrive around 6:30 a.m. each weekday morning to cook, pack and deliver meals.
MOW suggests people pay $2 per meal, but if recipients don’t have the money, they don’t have to pay. Canonsburg-Houston Meals on Wheels does not receive state or federal funding, so the nonprofit’s shoestring budget relies heavily on donations.
“We are so grateful to All-Clad for their generosity, and we’re thankful for all of the people who donate to Meals on Wheels, and for our volunteers,” said Taylor. “We are so thankful for everyone who donates their time and their money to this.”
Taylor noted that while most will spend Thanksgiving enjoying dinner with family and friends, volunteer cooks and drivers will spend their morning preparing and delivering meals to Meals on Wheels recipients, to make sure they have a holiday feast.
The Canonsburg United Presbyterian Church will prepare Thanksgiving dinners for its Meals on Wheels recipients and the Canonsburg-Houston recipients, she said.
Last year, the church served 425 Meals on Wheels Thanksgiving meals.
The Canonsburg-Houston Meals on Wheels program, now in its 61st year, enables many seniors who can no longer shop or safely cook to remain independent and live in their own homes or apartments. The daily deliveries also make sure that someone is looking in on seniors regularly and providing nutritious meals.
“We really appreciate All-Clad and our volunteers. This is a worthwhile cause that helps a lot of people. We won’t turn anybody down, and we don’t want anyone to go hungry,” said Young.
Anyone interested in volunteering or donating to the Canonsburg-Houston Meals on Wheels can call 724-746-3040.